JCP Week in Review, May 18 - VIDEO

Last week’s Week in Review led with Ballad Health CEO Alan Levine’s tweet announcing the hiring of 255 new nursing graduates, in which he included the note “105 NET NEW JOBS.” That may not be the case.

On Wednesday a Ballad Health spokeswoman clarified that the figure Levine referenced was net new hires filling existing vacancies. Ballad had more than 350 nursing positions to fill, and filled 265 of these positions with new graduates.

Last month, in the wake of the Mountain States Health Alliance and Wellmont Health System merger, Ballad Health officials eliminated 199 predominately administrative positions, 150 of which were occupied. That’s where the 105 new jobs number comes in: 255 minus 150.

Unless Ballad Health has created new positions since closing the merger, however, our very own Zach Vance counters that the hospital system has actually netted a loss of 199 positions within the organization, because the 255 nurse openings were not newly-created positions.

To read more about the matter, and get all the details, find Zach’s article on our website.

Tyler Tetrick was arrested last year after shooting a gun towards JCPD officers as they attempted to intervene in his attempt to commit suicide. This week, he presented those officers, and the rest of the police force, with tokens of gratitude and thanks for saving his life.

Tetrick was arrested Dec. 26 after police responded to his residence about a suicide attempt. After hearing a shot, officers entered a bedroom and found Tetrick lying on the bed with a handgun in his right hand. He admitted he had fired into a wall, hoping to delay officers so that pills he had taken would end his life.

This donation was more personal, though, as he posted on his facebook page that, “I personally owe my life to the bravery of local law enforcement and I will forever be grateful to them for saving my life.”

Tetrick is due Tuesday in Washington County Sessions Court for the preliminary hearing regarding his case.

Washington County Board of Education members met again this week to discuss the possibilities for a new K-8 school in Jonesborough, and again came away with no answers. But there was a new suggestion - redrawing school districts.

Board member Philip McLain said redistricting could fill some rooms at Westview and Grandview and the new Boones Creek school, an 1,100-student facility that will house 687 current Boones Creek students.

Other board members argued that the point of building Boones Creek with extra space was to attract more students from Johnson City and surrounding counties, and that filling its capacity by redistricting other students to that school would defeat the purpose.

The earlier proposed Scheme 3 didn’t clear a Board vote, Scheme 2A is still considered too expensive, and time is running short on decisions.

Keep reading the Johnson City Press for more updates as the debate moves ahead.